The path to Strength
by Luffy15
Summary: Ranma was unable to get the cure to the weakness moxibustion, now trapped without his strength, will he lose himself as well to his own doubts? Ranma/Shampoo, Ranma/Ukyo, Ukyo/Ranma/Shampoo


**The path to Strength**

**Summary**: Ranma was unable to get the cure to the weakness moxibustion, now trapped without his strength, will he lose himself as well to his own doubts? Ranma/Shampoo, Ranma/Ukyo, Ukyo/Ranma/Shampoo.

**Disclaimer**: I don't even own my computer, what makes you think I could own Ranma½?

**AN:** So anyways, this is only an idea that came to me last week, and when I actually sat down to write it just flowed from my fingers, it basically wrote itself as it needed almost no effort on my part. Now, one thing that I must make clear, is that I have not watch Ranma½ in years, what I wrote was a lot of guess work, half remembered parts of the anime, half assed internet research, and a lot of speculation on my part, and I don´t actually know when I will update this, so I will make this a challenge, this can be taken by anyone who wants to try it, the only condition I will set for the challengers is to pm me first, and that they actually use a pairing that is not Ranma with Akane, there is enough of that, they can use any other pairing but Akane or OCs.

"Dialogues"

"_Thoughts"_

**Begin**

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Ranma couldn´t believe it.

Standing over the form of the beaten Happosai, Ranma could only stand there and watch helplessly as the torn pieces of paper that held the cure to the moxibustion were swept away by the wind, never to be seen again.

It had been going so well. After Ranma learned the Hiryu Shouten Ha from the old ghoul, a powerful technique that needed no physical strength to use, capable of even defeating Happosai, Ranma thought that he could finally make the leech give him the restoration point to the moxbustion weakness.

So he went to confront the pervert, and he was able to execute the technique perfectly. But there was something he didn´t count on, and that was the pettiness of Happosai, as with his last strength, while inside the tornado, he shredded the manuscript of the cure, making it impossible for anyone to fix it.

And so, Ranma could only stand there, looking at the torn pieces of his only hope fluttering away on the wind. It was over.

His life as a martial artist. Over. His goals in life. Over. His dream. Over. Hell, without the ability to be a martial artist Ranma wasn´t even sure he knew who he was anymore.

For as long as he could remember, training to be the best martial artist had been his goal in life, his reason to be, his motivation, his drive, everything was for that one and only goal. And now it was gone, forever away of his reach.

Turning away from the sight of his dying dreams, Ranma began staggering away in a drunken manner, his head down, and tears freely running down his face, tear that he didn´t even bother to wipe or hide, there was no reason to be strong anymore, there was no way, not after this day.

A little bit away, seeing Ranma walk away in utter despair, were the three fiancés, each one of them felling sad and concerned for the pigtailed boy.

Ukyo was the first to react, running after her best friend to try to console him, anything else was unimportant right now, the only thing on her mind was to be there for her friend, she wanted, no, she needed to be there for him, to help him pull through this, to get him back to his feet.

Xian Pu was next. After seeing spatula girl running after her airen, the Amazon went after them as well; intent to help Ranma, right now everything else could wait. Her great grandmother, the Neko Hanten, anything else but Ranma was to be forgotten for the moment. In Xian Pu´s Heart there was only one priority, to help her airen regain that fire that made her truly fall in love with him, the fire that she could see was close to extinguished after this battle.

Watching the two girls run after Ranma, Akane could do nothing but wish for her body to react and follow them, but it was no use, she was rooted to the spot. The girl could not believe what happened. She had really thought that Ranma would be able to get the cure from Happosai, she never expected that the old pervert would be so cruel as to destroy the cure.

And now, seeing Ranma walk away with that lost look in his eyes, that defeated gait on his walk, and that slumped shoulders in depression, she could do nothing to help cheer him up.

She wanted to go after him. Oh, did she want to go after him to help him, but she couldn´t. Every time she tried to move, one question came to her mind. It was a question that Ranma asked of her when this began, and to her shame, she couldn´t find an answer the first time.

What good am I without my strength?

Ranma asked that some days ago, when he first got hit with the weakness moxibustion, she hadn´t been able to answer at that time. And now, days later, and with the seemly permanent lost of Ranma´s strength, there was still no answer. She just didn´t know.

Tears stared to roll down her face, tears of frustration and sadness, frustration for her inability to answer such a simple question, sadness for how useless she was in helping someone who had become so important to her.

ºªºªºªº

It didn´t take long for Ukyo and Shampoo to catch up to Ranma, he was just aimlessly walking around after all, and once they caught up to him, Ukyo began steering him to her home, where she could get him something to eat and maybe get him to rest a little.

Shampoo began helping her get Ranma to her restaurant without complain, and Ukyo didn´t question her, they didn´t need to say it, but both of them only wanted to help Ranma, and fighting with each other would only hurt him right now.

Both girls were really worried for their fiancé, he hadn´t made a sound since the fight with Happosai. No complain, no screams of anger, or sadness, or anything. He just followed them passively, lost to the world, it didn´t seem he even knew where he was, or more like he did not care where he was.

It did not take that long to get to Ucchan´s, and once there, Ukyo sat Ranma down at the bar, with Shampoo sitting with him to keep him company and make sure he was ok, while she went to make some okonomiyaki for them to eat.

Letting her mind wander while she cooked, an ability gained after hour upon hour of practice, Ukyo began thinking of ways that she could help Ranma, but it was becoming pretty clear in her mind that it wouldn´t be easy.

"_What would I do if I lost my dream?"_

That thought came unbidden to her mind, and it hit her with the strength of a bullet train. What would she do? What would ANYONE do when faced with that kind of dilemma?

It was then that the seriousness of the situation began to set in. Ranma was facing exactly that. Without his strength, there was no way for him to continue being a fighter, he just would never be able to fight his own battles anymore, and for someone like Ranma, who only knew how to fight, this must be the worst kind of torture that he could imagine.

Ukyo did everything in her power not to start crying over their food. She needed to be strong, for him.

While Ukyo was cooking and having her own thoughts about Ranma, Shampoo was just sitting next to Ranma, unsure of what she could do, if anything, to snap Ranma out of the state he was in.

Shampoo could only look sadly at Ranma, as he sat at the bar, his eyes lost to the world hidden beneath the bangs of his hair, his shoulders tens with stress, his hands hanging limp at his sides, his was truly the visage of defeat, and Shampoo couldn´t bear to see him like that.

"_It is not right!"_ Shampoo cried in her thoughts _"Airen not suppose to look like this! Airen strong male! Powerful man! Airen suppose to stand tall and proud!"_ with that, Shampoo, proud Amazon warrior, broke down crying, startling Ukyo, who snapped out of her own mind when she heard Shampoo began to sob.

Paying no mind to the okonomiyaki chef, who was trying to calm her down and keep cooking at the same time, Shampoo stood to her feet, grabbing Ranma´s shoulders, and forcing his head up, to make him look her in the eyes.

"Please Airen, do not be like this! It is not right!" exclaimed Shampoo, tears running freely down the sides of her face, her concern for the boy clear in her tearful eyes. "You find way to get better! You always do! And I can help, I will help, anyway I can! So please… please…" Shampoo´s voice lost volume and intensity by the end, but her eyes still looked full of determination, but she wasn´t able to finish her speech before being overcome by her emotions, so letting her actions speak for her she gave Ranma a hug, and unlike the usual type of hug, that should be better called a glomp, this was a soft hug meant to show how much she cared about him.

This is what finally got a reaction from Ranma, but it was not the reaction they wanted. Still dragged down by his feelings of depression, the pigtailed boy was easily overwhelmed by Shampoo´s emotions, and reacted with the first thing that came to his mind. He ran away.

Watching his retreating back until it was out of sight, Ukyo let out a sad sight. She had been originally surprised by Shampoo´s display, and even a little hopeful that it would help Ranma, but it seemed that it was too soon to hope, the way to recovery would be an uphill battle. But she had to smile a little, she had never seen the Amazon acting like this, and showing how much she truly felt for Ranma, it opened her eyes a little about the other girl.

"_Maybe, the both of us could help him get himself together"_

Turning his sight to the purple haired girl, Ukyo let out another sight, Shampoo was just standing there, a hurt look in her eyes, though she could see it wasn´t aimed at Ranma, the girl was just mad at her own thoughtless words and actions.

"Don´t worry, sugar." began Ukyo, calling Shampoo´s attention to her. "Let´s just go out and get Ranchan back, he is going to need us to be there for him, and be patient with him now more than ever"

Looking over at the brunette, Shampoo stood there a few seconds, studying the chef, as if trying to resolve a riddle.

"Why you being so nice?" asked Shampoo.

"Right now, Ranchan need his friends, not his fiancés". Ukyo´s replay came without hesitation. "He needs to be with people who care, truly care about him, and I can see you are one of them, so until Ranchan gets better I am not his fiancé, but Ucchan, his best friend".

The sincerity in Ukyo´s voice was a little surprising for Shampoo, but slowly, she nodded to the other girl, she understood what she was saying, and she was actually a little glad, this meant that they could better help her Airen without getting in the way of each other, or try to out stage the other as to somehow gain Ranma´s favor, it was definitely not the time for that.

"Let´s go then, sugar"

Without another word both girls went out of the restaurant, after Ukyo turned off the stove, and went separate ways, looking for the boy that meant so much to both of them.

ºªºªºªº

Running through the streets of Nerima, Ranma didn´t even know where he was going, just that he didn´t want to see the pity and compassion in the eyes of Shampoo, feeling that he correctly assumed were mirrored by Ukyo´s eyes, he just couldn't deal with that at the moment, he just wanted to be left alone, alone to mourn the loss of his dreams, alone to cry without anyone to judge him unmanly for it.

He just wanted to be left alone, maybe forever, so that he did not have to deal with the new situation in his life, he did not want to face reality, to face the truth, because facing the truth would mean accepting the death of all his dreams, goals and aspirations, the death of everything that made him be who he was.

And so, he ran, for what seem like hours, he ran, and he ran, until he just couldn´t get his body to move any more, and collapsed on his own in a dead-end alley. He wasn´t tired, that he knew for sure, he wasn´t even sweating, but his body refused to move, it was like it was giving up, like it knew what happened to it and it, too, did not want to face that fact.

It was like this, face down on the ground, that Shampoo found him. Concerned for the boy, Shampoo ran at his side, turning him over to check for injuries, but finding none. Letting out a sigh of relief that he wasn´t hurt, that relief quickly turned to sorrow when she saw the completely lost look on the eyes of Ranma, it was as if the boy really was ready to give up on everything, and it broke Shampoo´s heart to see him this way.

"Ranma…" Shampoo had to stop, she didn´t actually know what to say, what could she say? What could she say that would help Ranma feel even a little, tiny, itty bit better? She didn´t know, so she just hug him to her body, trying to convey the feeling that she couldn´t express with words.

It was, at this moment that it began to rain, just a small drizzle, but it was enough to trigger both of their curses. And so now, lying on the ground, was Ranma~chan, with little Shampoo neko lying on her chest, sporting a sorrowful look in her feline eyes, fully aware of what was about to happen.

Predictably, Ranma~chan jumped back, pale as a ghost, and eyes filled with terror, backing away from the innocent, harmless little cat in front of her, each step full of desperation, and she didn´t stop until her back hit the end of the alley, where once her back touch the wall she slid to the ground, her sanity slowly slipping away.

Neko Shampoo could only look in sorrow as Ranma~chan backed away from her, she wanted to get close and reassure her, but she knew that she was only making the situation worse. She knew she needed to leave, and fast, but at the same time she thought that maybe, just maybe, losing his sane mind and just slipping into the feral mind of the nekoken could bring some strange type of relief to the boy, and so she stayed where she was, sadly looking at the terrified boy turned girl.

"_Is this what my life is going to be like, from now on?"_

That thought came crashing through his irrational fear. It brought such an over powered feeling of hopelessness to her heart that it was able to slice all her fears, and make them look so small that they were almost pitiful.

Was this really what his life would be like? Being powerless to protect him from even the smallest of dangers?

"_Might as well just turn the whole world into a giant cat"_ thought Ranma in a mocking way, his mind so overwhelmed by emotion that he actually felt nothing at this point.

It was an accurate assertion, without his strength he was back to that little boy who could not even protect himself from a bunch of starving cats. A little boy who was pretty much scared of everything around him, that could only face the world by relying on the conceived strength that his training gave him, but take that away and what is you left? Just a little boy, powerless to protect himself, scared of the world around him.

Ranma just slumped down to the ground, too tired to even be scared of the cat in front of him. What was the purpose anymore is not as if he could protect himself better from anything else, so just stayed where he was, there was no point in fighting anymore.

Shampoo stayed silent and unmoving as she saw Ranma enter the cycle of terror before he went cat, her eyes sad that she actually thought that this would be good for him, but determined to follow through with her idea. It came as a surprise when just a couple of minutes later, Ranma just slumped to the floor, unmoving, still breathing she noticed, but making no attempt at escaping her.

Concerned, Shampoo began taking slow steps towards Ranma, observing carefully for any flinch or strange movement that would indicate the Neko ken, she had no intention of being mauled by it, even if Ranma had no strength left, she knew that the neko ken could utilize ki as a form of attack, and that could still hurt her, she just didn´t know if that was affected by the moxibustion as well or not, but she had no intention of finding out.

When she was but a couple of steps away from the boy, and with still no visual reaction, Shampoo was finally able to see the tears in Ranma´s eyes, tears full of anger, resentment, resignation, and basically every negative emotion she could think of. Without thinking Shampoo leapt at Ranma, snuggling in her chest trying to console her, and paying no mind to the little flinch the girl gave when she touched him.

Slowly, and full of hesitation, Ranma grabbed the small cat in a hug, her mind recognizing her as Shampoo´s curse form, and even though her mind and phobia kept battling inside her, she manage to ignore everything and just concentrate on the feelings Shampoo was trying to get across to her, and they resonated strong in her mind.

"_I´ll be there for you, just trust me"_

It was then that she felt a pair of soft arms pull her to an equally soft chest, and she found herself held in Ukyo´s arms, feeling warmth for the first time since her fight with Happosai was over. Ukyo began humming a little tuneless lullaby, rocking the three of them from side to side, actually relaxing Ranma with the touching gesture. The gentle way that Ukyo held her with was actually having an effect on his tired mind, lulling her to sleep.

Noticing that Ranma was starting to fall asleep in her arms, Ukyo gave off a small smile, full of the hope and thrust she had for Ranma, she knew he would push through, and come up better than ever, it was who he was, and even if right now he was lost, and couldn´t find his path, she would be there to pull him in the right direction, she could do no less for the man that meant everything to her.

"Let's go home, Ranchan" said Ukyo while pulling the two of them to their feet, Shampoo, still in neko form being held in Ranma´s arms. "Don´t worry about a thing, until you find your path again I will be there to help you" sending a quick look at Shampoo, the girl corrected herself "WE will be there to help you get better"

Looking deeply into her best friend eyes, Ranma stayed silent for a few moments, weighting Ukyo´s words and their meaning. Finally after a few minutes of just staring at her, and for the first time seeing all the care and love that Ukyo really held for her, Ranma spoke.

"But, what if I don´t get better?"

"You will"

Ukyo´s answer came immediately, without hesitation and with all the faith she had in him, making Ranma stagger by the bluntness of it.

"How do you know?" she just had to ask that, she needed to know how she could have so much faith in him.

"Because you are Ranma Saotome, my oldest and best friend, and the man I love, and I will not let you give up on yourself"

Ukyo stayed silent for just a couple of seconds, letting Ranma absorb what was said, before speaking again.

"Your body may be weak now, but I know that your heart is as strong as ever, and I believe with all my being that you will find your strength, even if your bode never becomes powerful again"

Looking into the eyes of Ukyo, Ranma could only nod her head, overwhelmed by how much faith she saw in the chef´s eyes. Looking down at the cat in her arms she could see the same feelings mirrored by neko Shampoo.

Maybe… just maybe, he could overcome this.

Letting out a small but true smile, Ranma let herself be dragged by Ukyo to her restaurant. It was a small step toward recovery, but it was a start, now he just needed to find her center again, and think things with a clear mind, if there was a way to overcome this, he would find it, he had to, he didn´t want to let this two down.

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**The End**

**Read AN at the top of chapter.**


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